Circular Puzzle

The circular puzzle how can we escape?

The argument goes as follows:

The teachers do not know enough math to be able to teach Singapore Math.
So Singpore Math can not be adopted.

The teachers do not know enough math because they do not have enough academic classes in actual math content. To increase these math classes prior to graduation would mean something has to go. A likely starting place would be the classes taken in the college of education.

Is the college of education likely to advocate for more math content classes for teachers taught by the math department, when it would mean a likely reduction in classes taught by the College of Education?

Thus professional development consists of more tips on how to organize games in your classroom and heavy topics like thinking about your student's thinking. Not that thinking about thinking is not valuable, it is just that the math content needs improvment so the kids have more to think about.